Tuscany and Puglia - is it possible?

You are going to rent a car, right? If you are interested in Florence, then I'd split a week between Florence and somewhere more rural--you have lots of options so I'd start perusing accommodations to see what kind of place alce appeals to you. In Puglia, it really depends on the day trips you wish to do--a northern and southern base works well. When you say "cities"--do you mean literal cities? There are many small villages so we need the distinction.
While you could fit in both, why not look at the Tuscan coast? The northern coast is sandy and not as interesting to me, but the southern part is lovely and wild, gorgeous natural sand beaches and a rocky promontory at Monte Argentario. I just like to maximize every second on vacation, so I try to exhaust one area with so much at your fingertips rather than going further than necessary.

Yes - we will definitely rent a car for both locations (for travel between vineyards in Tuscany and between different villages in Puglia), but it seems like a bit of a journey to get down south from Florence and vice versa. I thought about doing a coast in the north, but both areas have been on my bucket list, so trying to see if I can do both.

Certainly possible, just consider the travel time and that you'll have to be back in Rome the night before departure.
Two weeks would be a good amount of time to see most of the highlights of Puglia, whereas I think you'd need much longer in Tuscany to do the same. If you do both, you have to make some hard choices, but it would not be unreasonable to include both if you don't mind the long drive. You could do two rentals and take a train between, but it probably makes the most sense to just drive.

Did you figure out how to do this? Hoping to plan a similiar trip!

I like Lecce a lot as one of your bases in Puglia. It's a very attractive city with a lot of Baroque architecture and some Roman ruins--very different from the little white villages along the coast.

I'd recommend using ViaMichelin.com to estimate driving times.

@jlhenry5

There is a direct flight between Florence and Bari that I found which I think would work!

I have not by any means finalized my itinerary, but here's what I have gathered so far. This is super high level
- Land in Rome in the PM - stay the night
- Take first train Day 2 to Florence
- Day 3 Florence
- Day 4 - 7 Tuscany Wine Country
- Day 8 direct flight from Florence to Bari
- Day 8-9 Polignano a Mare
- Day 10- Travel to Lecce
- Day 11 - 14 Lecce with traveling to villages
- Day 14 - Travel back to Rome
- Day 15 - Travel back to USA

@acraven

When you used Lecce as a home base in Puglia, did you find yourself returning to Lecce for dinner? Or did you find there were ample options in town? Or did you mostly eat in other villages? We were thinking of going out to different villages and beaches during the day and venturing back at night when we didn't have other specific plans for drinks/dinner, but didn't know what the scene was like.

Nicole, are you going to have a car? We stayed in Lecce precisely so we could walk to dinner and leave the car parked after a day of exploring (and because we drink). Lecce is very walkable and has tons of restaurants.

Yes - I will have a car! We were planning to use that to travel each day during the day and likely not use it at night.

Hi there..I stayed in Lecci 6 nights last June. 2022..and returned each day to enjoy my evenings in Lecce. It is a beautiful Baroque city..so walkable..local scene..and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Great food..cafes..very safe feeling. Female solo traveler..enjoy!!

My situation was very different; I had no car. I got around by working with a local travel agency that arranged van transportation to a bunch of small towns in Puglia (plus also Matera), going to between 4 and 6 places a day. Once or twice there was a planned break for lunch--once it was a piadina; on another occasion it was more like a meal. Honestly, I don't remember how I handled food on the other occasions. When I travel, I tend to look for something to eat when I get hungry, so a lot of my meals are uninspired.

Restaurants in Lecce tend to open a bit late for dinner; that far south, there's quite an afternoon siesta.

When I was a boy my family lived in Bari and we had to drive four times a year to Florence to visit relatives; I remember these drives as overly long; Puglia is somewhat remote and distant from other regions. At the time train links were slow and you did need almost a whole day to do the trip; now there are some fast direct trains between Florence and Bari, both on Trenitalia and Italo, and you can do the trip in 6 or 6 1/2 hours, that is a definite advantage over the past. There could be also some flights between Pisa and Bari, but the effective time spent would not be much different.

Consider this as an itinerary.

Fly into Rome. Continue on to Brindisi, since you’re already at the airport. I wouldn’t spend the night in Rome.

These are the towns we visited. Trani, Bari, Polignano a Mare, Alberobello, Locorotundo, Ostituni, Lecce
Work your way north, fly from Bari to Florence. 2-3 N Florence.

Visit as many villages & wine towns as possible. You can then drop your car in Chiusi, train to Rome or drive to the airport an drop your car there.

When I visited Puglia I did not have a car. I utilized local transport..some private..to do day tours. I flew into Bari..but Brindisi is much closer. Perhaps for a much longer trip I might have spent a night or to at the beach..but my day trips included..by my choosing and planning..swimming..lunch..cafes..etc. I was very happy in Lecce as my base.but the water is so beautiful at the seaside that Next time I will stay in Lecce and then the sea.